NAN-AE-10
Cassava
Omu-Aran (Kwara), Jan. 30, 2017 (NAN) An Agriculture Extension Officer, Mr Tunde Adediji, on Monday urged the Federal Government to accord priority in the 2017 budget to the implementation of its 10-per-cent cassava bread initiative.
Adediji, who is attached to the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, made the plea in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran, Kwara state.
He said that the initiative, if well-funded and well-nurtured, has the potential to solve the nation’s poverty, food insufficiency and unemployment challenges.
According to him, one way of implementing the scheme successfully is to devote substantial resources to it in the 2017 budget.
Adediji called on farmers to embark on massive cultivation of cassava to foster the sustenance of the scheme.
He said that the cassava growers association, which has branches in all the 36 states, recently launched a campaign to sensitise cassava farmers to the need to step up production in order to meet the expected demands.
Adediji said that cassava, a staple food for people in the sub-Saharan Africa, has the potential of turning around the nation’s economic fortunes.
“It (cassava) has increasingly gained prominence as a cash crop for smallholder and commercial farmers in some parts of the country.
“The recent decision of the Federal Government on the mandatory incorporation of 10 per cent cassava flour in wheat flour for bread has posed a serious challenge to farmers, for the policy to be realised and sustained,’’ he said.
Adediji said that Nigeria has been proclaimed the largest producer of cassava in the world, urging farmers in the country to work harder to sustain the number one position.
“Africa presently accounts for 55 per cent of the global cassava output but it is contending with low market opportunities,’’ he said. (NAN)
ISHO/MOL/OOK
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi, Dayo Komolafe